West
Virginia
Historical Society
Quarterly

VOLUME XV, NO. 1
January, 2001

CONFEDERATE SOLDIERS:
WHY DID THEY ENLIST?

BY
MICHAEL BAXTER SHOCK

(Continued from Vol. XIV, No. 4)

The Irish were the "rough-and-tumble" immigrants who enlisted to
fight for the Confederate States. The Irish have also been an
oppressed people (under English rule), and disliked the upper
classes. They had their own reasons for fighting which had nothing
to do much with the mainstream white populace. The Irish did not
understand sectional issues and as immigrants were part of
America's poorest class, and held fast to the traditional European
hostility toward the wealthy upper classes, like the well-to-do
Southern slave-owners.22 The general reason many
enlisted "was Irish pride," which was "the idea that the Irish men
were as good as anyone when it came to toasting company spirit,
banging on drums, blowing into bagpipes, parading around with flags
and fighting the enemy".23 The Irish felt a need to
prove themselves to be equal to the upper classes, and of course,
better than the African-Americans. That was unfortunately the way
things were back then. And of course, the Irish loved a
fight.24

One Irish immigrant who did have an idea of what he was
enlisting to fight for was Patrick R. Cleburne. A veteran of the
British Army, he came to the United States "in 1849 and prospered
as a druggist, then as a lawyer and landowner in Helena, Arkansas,
for a decade before the war".25 He believed in States'
Rights, but was opposed to slavery. He rose to the rank of Major
General in command of a division in the Army of Tennessee, and he
was known as the "Stonewall of the West." He was highly regarded as
a general and as a person of great character, and his position gave
him influence to later suggest a measure that was ahead of the
thinking at that time, and very controversial.26 That
idea will be discussed later on.

The English who volunteered seemed to think of the South's
"cause" (from whatever view point that may have been), was a "holy
war" against tyranny, and for those who came over when Robert E.
Lee took command of the Army of Northern Virginia in mid-1862, "to
join as honorable volunteers, the standard of the bravest lance in
Christendom, that of the noble, peerless Lee"!27 In
other words, they felt they were knights in shining armor, coming
to save the South from Yankee oppression. The English, as well as
the French, always seemed to be so noble (and wordy!), about their
intentions!

The Scottish also had a few immigrants sign up to fight, and one
at Baton Rouge stated "I was much opposed to the secession movement
and would have done anything I could to have prevented it. But when
the North declared war, I was in a position that I could not well
withdraw from, and I served my time in the Confederate
Army".28 Again, many joined up just because it seemed
like the only thing to do, or had not much choice in the
matter.

Canadians also enlisted to fight for the C.S.A. No clear reasons
were given, but they are probably similar to many of the reasons
given by the others. No exact number has ever been given, but the
claim has been made by Canadians that they had 40,000 men in the
Confederate ranks. Historian Ella Lonn stated that this is probably
an exaggeration, but a few thousand is believable.29

All of these foreign recruits made up a somewhat significant
portion of the Confederate forces (as far as popular image is
concerned.) "There was one brigade of Irishmen, several German
regiments, as well as a Polish 'legion'. A European brigade of
mixed nationalities came from Louisiana, and was commanded by the
resplendent French Count Camille Armand Jules Marie, Prince de
Polignac." His men abbreviated that considerably, and simply called
him 'Polecat'.30

Some more interesting nationalities were represented, but the
reasons for enlisting are not clear. They are worth mentioning
because they are very surprising and interesting to wonder about.
Historian Ella Lonn wrote, "an Austrian, a Chinaman, a Pole, a
Russian, a Greek, a Belgian, and a Hollander attract attention by
their infrequency". And "a Cuban or a Peruvian is less striking
than an Egyptian or Syrian. Several of the West Indian islands were
represented: Cuba, St. Thomas, Jamaica and
Martinique".31 These are extremely fascinating, for they
are not immigrants who would come to mind in enlisting to fight for
the Confederate States (or the United States, for that matter). It
could be speculated that (other than ideological motivations), they
were soldiers of fortune (and a few of previous mentioned
nationalities had representatives that definitely were also).

One group of men who enlisted could be grouped either as native
or foreign were the Mexicans. Since the Mexican War ended a little
over a decade before the Civil War, many who lived in what was
previously Mexican territory still considered themselves to be in
part of Mexico, even after the territory was brought into the U.S.
by force. Many did not consider themselves American citizens, or
even Texans (in reference to the War for Texan Independence). No
motivations were clearly stated in any of the research, but it
seems to come from anger against the U.S. government in Washington,
D.C. Horace Greely stated (in reference to the territory of New
Mexico), that "her delegate in Congress, Miguel Otero, had issued
(Feb 15, 1861) and circulated an address to her people intended to
disaffect them toward the Union, and incite them to favor the
Rebellion".32 This was the only good reason given for
enlisting since they had "no particular affection for American
institutions, whether Unionist or Confederate".33 Many
enlisted in the army to become scouts.34 A group of
Mexican- Americans soldiers were put in charge of helping to defend
Austin, the capital city of Texas. The 33rd Texas was led in part
by Refugio Benevides.35 Austin never fell to Union
forces during the entire war. It was an exceptional feat. Perhaps
they believed in the "cause" or they, like the Irish, wanted to
prove that they were equal.

Another interesting group of soldiers were the Native-American
allies of the Confederacy. "At least 15 regiments and battalions
were enlisted from the Cherokee, Choctaw, Osage, Creek, Chickasaw,
and Seminoles of the South." Many "often enlisted for private
reasons of their own which had nothing to do with the Confederate
cause".36 There was a significant number of them
enlisted in the service. It is estimated that as many as 12,000
Indians served the Confederacy, of whom most were members of the
Five Civilized Tribes living out in the Indian Territory (now
present-day Oklahoma). Also, they came from many more tribes
scattered throughout the Confederacy, serving in North Carolina and
also in segregated units with whites in North and South Carolina,
Tennessee and Kentucky.37 Why did Native-Americans
enlist to fight for the Confederacy?

In the Indian Territory, the Five Civilized Tribes of the
Southeast (their origin before removal in the 1830s by the U.S.
government)-the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, Seminole, and
Cherokee-were in a dilemma at the outbreak of the Civil War. They
were torn between the North and South. Neutrality was difficult to
keep, and sides were to be taken. "They were dependent peoples as a
result of American wars of conquest, treaties, or economic,
political, social, and religious changes introduced by the 'Long
Knives'".38 The Choctaw and Chickasaw sided with the
Confederate government. There surely was a distrust between these
two tribes and Washington, and that was probably a good enough
speculation for them joining the South. The three remaining tribes
had more complex reasons.

The Seminole, Creek, and Cherokee all had similar reasons for
choosing sides. All three had splits that consisted of two parties,
which were treaty and non-treaty factions. The reference to
treaties refer to the ones signed (or refused to be signed) by the
various tribes with the U.S. government for removal to what was to
become the Indian Territory.39 The Creek division seemed
to date back even farther because "the split among the Creeks was
an ancient one. At the time of removal from Georgia, it almost
flared into open warfare".40

The Southern side in every divided tribe was always the treaty
faction. The largest (and considered the most significant) of the
Five Tribes was the Cherokee. Stand Watie led the Southern (and
slave-holding faction) of the Cherokee. John Ross led the Northern
faction that consisted of mostly abolitionists (ironically, Ross
was a major owner with about 100 slaves), and he was also the
Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation.41 Most of
Watie's relatives were assassinated by Ross's followers after the
relocation treaty, and Stand Watie himself survived numerous
attempts on his life. He was the last remaining member of the four
Cherokees who signed the treaty. To survive "he organized his own
military force at Beattie's Prairie and Old Fort Wayne in Indian
Territory which protected him and his followers".42 Many
of these men followed Watie into the Confederate service.

What is not well known (besides the fact that the Cherokee were
slave owners), was that both parties signed the Treaty for
Allegiance with the Confederacy, but only one had the intention of
honoring it. How appropriate that the Union fraction emulated what
the Washington government had been doing for years to them, and
that was to sign a treaty with no intention of following its terms!
Watie's followers viewed Ross's faction in the same way they viewed
the U.S. government, which was through dislike and suspicion and
this incident increased those feelings.43 The
Confederacy did a better job than the Union in honoring its
promises to the Native-Americans. "As a symbol of the Confederate
commitment to the Indians, the treaty also provided that the
Cherokee were to be allowed a delegate in the Confederate Congress
at Richmond".44

The Eastern Band of the Cherokee were located at Quallatown,
North Carolina. They had remained by co-operating with the state
and national governments. Their main reason for enlisting was to
follow a white man who was adopted by the Cherokee at a young age
and had worked constantly with the North Carolina state government
to give concessions to let the Cherokees stay in Quallatown
indefinitely.45 The man was William Holland Thomas, and
to the Cherokee he was Wil-Usdi.46 The Cherokees' belief
in him was indeed strong, but there were other than sentimental
reasons for this attachment. They had "an anomalous legal and
political status, claiming to be Citizen Indians, yet not have
their person or lands protected under state and federal laws."
Also, "their desperate economic condition and their inability to
purchase land for themselves because of racial restrictions made
them overtly dependent on Wil-Usdi, their patron saint and
benefactor".47

The Eastern Band of Cherokees main motivation for enlisting to
fight for the Confederacy and North Carolina, being to stay in
Quallatown, was actually honored by the state. "On February 19,
1866, the North Carolina General Assembly granted a specific
affirmation of the Cherokees' right to residency in the
state".48 Sadly, Thomas' luck declined rapidly after the
war, and he died at the age of 88, on May 10, 1893, in an insane
asylum.49

The Catawba Indians of South Carolina loyally served the
Confederacy. They were a small tribe of only 55 people at the
out-break of war and only 19 of them were fit for
service.50 One reason for their enlisting was that "to
prove oneself in war was the highest manly virtue and a requirement
for political leadership".51 It could be stated "for the
Catawba, as well for many white southerners, combat was a proving
ground for manliness." The Confederate $50 enlistment bounty was
another significant motivation. Being relied upon by the planters
to be slave catchers also had something to do with
enlisting.52

As can been seen, the Native- Americans enlisted for many
reasons, from the distrust of the Federal government, to distrust
between themselves. They were dependent on whites for survival, but
would fight for and against them to assert the time honored right
of any proud people, that being pride in who they are. Individual
Indians may have had many differing motivations for enlisting in
the Civil War, but they all shared that sense of pride.

If Native-Americans would enlist to fight for the South, what
about African -Americans, an idea which is difficult for the
twentieth century public, which was raised on the over- simplified
reason that slavery alone was the main reason the War Between the
States was fought, to comprehend. It is indeed a controversial
subject to deal with. What prompted African- Americans to enlist to
fight for the South? "It is often forgotten that while slavery was
the major underlying cause of the Civil War, its abolition was not
the original objective of the U.S. government".53 The
slaves had nothing to gain from a Union victory at that time for
their status would have remained the same. The North was a racist
as the South in many respects, due to the fact that many
Northerners had never seen an African-American. Faced with these
"hostile invaders", many free blacks "volunteered to defend their
homes against the new threat from the North." Sadly, "no accurate
record has been kept of black units that served the South, since
most of them were state militia and never mustered into the
Confederate Army".54 Many free blacks and slaves were
accepted into the Confederate Army as laborers, teamsters, and
cooks.

African-Americans were allowed to serve in military bands, and
"according to an Act of 15 April 1862, Confederate black musicians
were to receive the same pay as white musicians".55 The
Confederate government could not accept the idea of letting slaves
or free blacks officially fight for the South. The Confederate Navy
(always independent in thought from the Confederate government),
"never hesitated to enlist black sailors", serving as crew members
on ships like the C.S.S. Chicora, and the C.S.S.
Alabama.56

There were a few incidents reported by the Union military on
encountering black Southern combatants in the deep South,
interestingly enough.57 The reports by Union soldiers
told of black gun crews commanded by white officers during the
Vicksburg campaign; to incidents of blacks being used as
sharpshooters by the Confederate Army.58 They were not
officially soldiers, but some illuminated whites were not going to
wait for the politicians to decide when to do something about
boosting the military's manpower by suggesting to free and arm the
slaves, which meant eliminating the scourge of slavery. Major
General Patrick R. Cleburne, the Irish immigrant who came to
America and settled in Arkansas in 1849, was commanding a division
in the Army of Tennessee by early 1864, and he suggested in turning
the tables on Lincoln, by freeing the slaves and letting them fight
as Confederate soldiers.59 Cleburne apparently believed
that every person who was rational would place the independence of
the Confederate States ahead of the outdated and morally suspect
system of slavery. However, the politicians who made up the
Confederate government were not known for being rational and put
the subject on the back-burner for too long until it could not be
repressed any longer during the last desperate months of the
war.60

The politicians and the Southern public raised a howl about the
proposal when it was finally known. Its distinguished author had
been killed at the Battle of Franklin, Tennessee on November 30,
1864, in a suicidal assault on grander scale than the immortal
Pickett's Charge at the Battle of Gettysburg on July 3, 1863 (the
comparative numbers were for about 20,000 men at Franklin to 12,000
men at Gettysburg). Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and John C.
Breckenridge supported the proposal, along with a host of others
who felt that keeping slavery was not as important as Southern
independence. Unfortunately, the Confederate Congress bickered and
stalled, therefore the resolution did not pass until February 18,
1865 (and with no mention of emancipation by the Confederate
government, for which it had decided to leave in the hands of the
individual state governments). On March 23, 1865, the Southern army
accepted black soldiers as equals (this little known fact was an
important development of monumental proportions). The order issued
that day (by General Robert E. Lee, who personally detested
slavery), stated that the black Confederates were to "receive the
same rations, clothing, and compensation as allowed other troops in
the same branch of service".61 The Union Army could not
claim that it treated its black soldiers in the same equal fashion.
African-Americans soldiers in service for the Union received
approximately eleven dollars a month, compared to thirteen dollars
a month for the white soldiers. In the Confederate service, it was
eleven dollars for both the black and white soldiers (but, it must
be stated that do to high inflation, Confederate money was really
not worth anything, so many soldiers for the Confederacy late in
the war never received pay of any kind).62

African-American units were being formed all over the South, and
Major General Ulysses S. Grant became very alarmed. He wrote to
Major General Edward R.S. Canby stationed at Mobile, Alabama, to
get as many of the slaves as he could "before the enemy puts them
into their ranks".63 A regiment of three black companies
and two white companies under the command of Majors Pegram and
Turner paraded through the streets of Richmond on March 24, 1865 in
full uniform, and gave an impressive display, even though bums
threw mud at them (who knows why these wonderful individuals were
not in the Confederate service is anybody's
speculation).64 These African- Americans would be the
only known black companies to apparently see combat as official
Confederate soldiers by guarding the wagon trains at Amelia Court
House, on the retreat from Richmond to Appomattox. They repulsed a
Federal Cavalry charge before being overrun. Confederate Private
R.M. Dosewell, a courier, was a witness to this
event.65

Would slaves fight as slaves in the Confederate Army? Not
realistically. Most slave owners (of some who were actually free
blacks in the State of South Carolina), who let their slaves enlist
to fight freed them as part of this action. The Union already
offered the option of freedom, so it was deemed
necessary.66 It was also the right thing to do. General
Lee could have also used his awesome power as the
Commander-in-Chief of all Confederate military forces, and freed
them through martial powers as a military necessity, which could be
speculated on as a possibility, but no records have been found on
this. The Southern blacks who enlisted to fight did not do so "for
their own enslavement but sincerely believed that their ultimate
freedom, and destiny lay south of the Mason-Dixon
line".67 They wanted to be given freedom by the South
because that was where they lived and called home. The amazing
thing is that it almost happened on a wide scale. What was
happening was the abolishing of slavery by the Confederacy, and it
only needed more time, or earlier action, to have successfully
taken place. Freedom did not have to have been "solely in the gift
of the Federal armies, Lincoln, and the Thirteenth
Amendment".68 The course of history could have been very
different, let alone today's political and social conditions.

The "Rebel" army was obviously a melting pot of different
cultures, races, religions, and nationalities. It was not the
homogeneous "white fighting machine" that it has commonly thought
to have been by today's society. As with prejudice, generalization
can be a very unfortunate simplization of an event or person, or
groups thereof. Diligent research of any subject can give a much
clearer and fuller understanding and appreciation of what it is
about, or was like. That is basis of historical research.

Therefore, the purpose of this study was to find some historical
truth in what was the Confederate Army and what characterized the
"rebel soldier." It was realized that slavery was not the only
motivation, or even one at all, for the common white Southerner.
Also, that not all of the Confederate soldiers came from the South,
but the North as well. Many were of foreign-birth, or from
minorities within the Confederate States of America. Mexicans and
Mexican-Americans enlisted, as well as Native-Americans, and even
African-Americans. Many unusual nationalities, such as Egypt and
Syria, were represented on the Confederate enlistment rolls, and
all of these groups made the Southern military a more interesting
and diverse fighting force. The Confederate soldiers were indeed
more varied in backgrounds and motivations than what is commonly
portrayed today. In peace, as in war, all men, all races, all
people, are truly equal. The way it should always be.